In Birmingham - England to promote his latest book, 'Mr Rotten’s Scrap Book', a picture-packed volume detailing his life so far, John Lydon could not resist taking a swipe at hometown hero Ozzy Osbourne during an interview with The Sunday Mercury.

“Paranoid was one of the world’s greatest ever singles" says the man more well known by his Johnny Rotten moniker. The Sex Pistols frontman then goes on to state “But since then, the rumours of biting pigeon heads really, really haven’t impressed me. Ozzy now acting like a senile delinquent is equally unimpressive. The sly innuendo of promoting drug abuse and catatonic stupidity offends me".

“I’m not one for banning drugs. Quite the opposite. But I understand how to use them, and they don’t use me. Ozzy is clearly a victim, and selling that loser lifestyle s**t to other people equally victimises them".

“That’s a shame. Ozzy’s a working class man, like me, yet he allows that to happen. By acting like he does all the time, he implies that we’re all stupid, the working classes. But we’re not, you know. We’re not! We’re the proper Britain, us lot.”

The big question to be answered now is will the disparaging reply come from Ozzy, or wife Sharon?